Camlock threaded stud actuator

ABSTRACT

A threaded stud actuator including two members having threaded bores adapted to be easily threaded in alignment along a threaded stud and having complementary camming structure between the members to cause the threaded bores of the members to grip the stud when relative rotation is imposed between the members.

United States Patent 91 Jones, Jr.

[ 51 Feb. 27, 1973 CAMLOCK THREADED STUD ACTUATOR [75] Inventor: William Felix Jones, Jr., Houston,

Tex.

[73] Assignee: Borg-Warner Corporation, Chicago,

[22] Filed: July 16, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 163,183

[52] US. Cl ..8l/53.2 [51] Int. Cl. ..B25b 3/50 [58] Field of Search ..8l/53.2

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,681,203 8/1928 Westerberg ..81/53.2

1/1902 Morgan"; ..s1/s3.2 2,105,788 1/1938 Hess .,8l/53.2

Primary Examiner-James L. Jones, Jr. Attorney-Donald W. Banner et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT A threaded stud actuator including two members having threaded bores adapted to be easily threaded in alignment along a threaded stud and having complementary camming structure between the members to cause the threaded bores of the members to grip the stud when relative rotation is imposed between the members.

12 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEDFEBZYIBB SHEET 2 OF 2 INVENTOR W/ZZ/AM EJGAL QJZ.

CAMLOCK THREADED STUD ACTUATOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention generally relates to apparatus for gripping the threads of a threaded member to rotate the member without impairment of the threads and more particularly relates to a tool or wrench for removing or installing threaded studs as utilized in engine blocks, process heat exchangers, pumps, flanged valves and the like.

There has been a definite need for a simple, inexpensive and effective tool to remove studs which have become tightly locked or frozen into place due to the effects of heat, corrosion, and the like, in the equipment in which the stud is being used. A common practice has been to remove such studs with a pipe wrench. If such a wrench is applied to directly grip the threads such threads are generally marred and unsuitable for reuse, particularly in critical installations. If the stud has an unthreaded portion near its middle, the pipe wrench may be applied to the unthreaded portion to rotate the stud. In such event the resultant marring of the unthreaded portion may cause the stud to fit improperly or to be otherwise unsuitable for reuse when the equipment is reassembled.

Previous approaches have been made to solve this problem and tools or wrenches for removing and in stalling threaded studs without impairment of the stud threads have been previously developed as shown in US. Pat. No. 1,438,269, No. 1,566,691, No. 1,681,203, No. 1,815,500, No. 2,043,274 and No. 2,105 ,988, for example.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The stud actuator of this invention positively grips the threaded portion of a threaded member in a manner permitting very high torque to be imposed on the threaded member through the actuator without thread impairment or damage.

The stud actuator is comparatively simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture.

The stud actuator of this invention is of construction permitting its production in quantity with automatic machine tools.

The foregoing and other advantages are attained in a tool for removing and installing screw threaded members without thread impairment, comprising: a first member having a first threaded bore and a first cam means formed eccentric to said first threaded bore axis, a second member having a second threaded bore and a second cam means formed eccentric to said second threaded bore axis. The second cam means accommodates the first cam means to coaxially align the bore axes at a selected relative arcuate position of the members and to disalign the bore axes when the members are relatively rotated from the selected arcuate position. The members are adapted to be positioned by means to place the bore axes in alignment to thread both members along a threaded member and alternatively to move the members into a different relative arcuate position thereby to cause coaction of said members to tightly grip said threaded member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of one embodiment of the stud actuator of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the stud actuator shown in FIG. 1 when assembled for rotation along the threads of a stud;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the stud actuator as shown in FIG. 3 when manipulated into a thread gripping position;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of the stud actuator of this invention;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the stud actuator of FIG. 5 when assembled for rotation along the threads of a stud, and

FIG. 7 is a cross-section taken along the line 77 of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1-3 there is shown the actuator 10 which includes a member 12 and a member 14 contained within an alignment sleeve 16. Members 12 and 14 have internal bores 18 and 20 in which are formed threads 22 and 24. When bores 18 and 20 are in alignment, the threads 22 and 24 may be threaded along the threads 26 of a stud 28 as shown. Stud 28 commonly may be installed in a member 30 such as a cylinder block, heat exchanger, pump housing, or the like.

A cam face 32, shown as an internal face, is formed in member 12. A complementary cam face 34, shown as an external cam face, is formed in member 14. In the embodiment shown, the cam faces are formed eccentric to the internal bores 18 and 20 in a manner permitting threads 22 and 24 to be in alignment in one relative arcuate position of members 12. and 14 whereby the members may be jointly threaded along the threads 26 of a stud 28. Members 12 and 14 have alignment means 36 and 38, shown as spline grooves or slots, which accommodate an internal alignment means 40, shown as a spline key, formed in alignment sleeve 16. When sleeve 16 is placed over members 12 and 14 with key 40 in slots 36 and 38, the bores 18 and 20 are in alignment and the actuator 10 may be threaded readily along stud 28.

A view of members 12 and 14 when relatively arcuately moved to lock on stud 28 is shown in FIG. 4. Depending on the degree of eccentricity of cam faces 32 and 34, the relative arcuate movement of members 12 and 14 to lock onto stud 28 may be exaggerated in FIG. 4. It is to be noted that forming cam faces internally and externally as shown is a preferred embodiment but that other cam profiles may be used so long as members 12 and 14 cooperate to grip a stud in response to relative rotation therebetween.

When the members 12 and 14 are relatively rotated from the arcuately aligned position, the camming action of the cam faces 32 and 34 causes disalignment of the threaded bores 18 and 20 and consequently the threads 22 and 24 are forced to grip tightly the thread 26 of stud 28. Members 12 and 14 and stud 28 are consequently locked or jammed into an integral unit which may be unthreaded from block 30 by a wrench applied to wrench flats 42 formed on member 12.

An alternative embodiment of the camlock actuator is shown in FIGS. 5-7. The elements of actuator 10 shown in FIGS. 5-7 corresponding to like elements of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1-4 bear the same but primed numbers.

The principal difference between the embodiments of FIGS. 1-4 and of FIGS. 5-7 is that the alignment means 36 and 38' are formed as wrench flats rather than grooves, and the alignment sleeve 16 may be a conventional socket, box or open end wrench or the like, rather than a special sleeve.

in operation the members 12 and 14 are maintained with bores 18 and 20 in alignment by alignment means 16 and the actuator is threaded along an installed stud 28. At such time as actuator 10 is installed onto a stud, the alignment means 16 is removed and a wrench is applied to member 12, or between member 12 and member 14, to cause relative rotation between the members. Such relative rotation causes the actuator 10 to grip the stud 28 with tightness proportional to the torque applied between the members. When actuator 10 has gripped stud 28 sufficiently tight, the stud 28 may be unthreaded from block 30 by application of a wrench to member 12 which will rotate the entire actuator 10 and stud 28.

After the actuator 10 has removed stud 28 from the body 30, the members 12 and 14 may he realigned by means of wrenches, or a wrench and a vise, and the stud unthreaded from the members for reuse as desired.

It is to be seen that a stud 28 may be installed by reversing the above procedure. It is also pointed out that variations of this invention may be utilized in power tools such as pneumatic wrenches or the like.

The foregoing description and drawing will suggest other embodiments and variations to those skilled in the art, all of which are intended to be included in the invention as herein set forth.

That being claimed is:

1. A tool for removing and installing threaded studs without thread impairment, comprising: a first member having a first threaded bore and a first cam means, a second member having a second threaded bore and a second cam means, said second cam means accommodating said first cam means to align said threaded bores when said members are disposed at a selected relative arcuate position for threading both members along a threaded stud and also for causing coaction of said members to tightly grip said stud when said members are moved to a different relative arcuate position.

2. The tool as defined in claim I wherein said cam means are formed in eccentric relation to the axes of said threaded bores.

3. The tool as defined in claim 2 wherein one of said camming surfaces is received in rotatable relation within the other of said camming surfaces.

4. The tool as defined in claim 3 wherein said cam means have concentric camming surfaces disposed parallel with the axes of said bores.

5. The tool as defined in claim 4 wherein the axes of said threaded bores are caused to be disaligned when said members are moved into said different relative arcuate position.

6. A tool for removing and installing screw threaded members without thread impairment, comprising: a first member having a first threaded bore and an external cam means, a second member having a second threaded bore and an internal cam means, said internal cam means accommodating said external cam means to align said threaded bores when said members are disposed at a selected relative arcuate position for threading both members along a threaded member and also for causing coaction of said members to tightly grip said threaded member when said members are moved to a different relative arcuate position.

7. A tool for removing and installing screw threaded studs without thread impairment, comprising: a first member having a first threaded bore and a first cam means, a second member having a second threaded bore and a second cam means, said second cam means cooperating with said first cam means to relatively dispose said threaded bores when said members are disposed at a selected relative arcuate position to thread both members jointly along a threaded stud and also to redispose said threaded bores to cause coaction of said members to tightly grip said threaded stud when said members are moved to a different relative arcuate position.

8. A threaded stud actuator, comprising: a first member having a first threaded bore and an external cam disposed in eccentric relation around said first bore, a second member having a seconded threaded bore and an internal cam disposed in eccentric relation around said second bore and receiving said external cam for permitting axial alignment of said bores when said members are disposed in a selected position and causing disalignment of said bores when one of said members is rotated away from said selected position.

9. The actuator as defined in claim 8 wherein said cams have concentric camming surfaces disposed parallel to the axes of said bores.

10. The actuator of claim 8 wherein said members have means for maintaining said bores in alignment to jointly thread said members along a threaded stud.

11. The actuator of claim 10 wherein said means for maintaining said bores in alignment comprise said members having aligned slots adapted to be received jointly and aligned in splined positioning means.

12. The actuator of claim 10 wherein said means for maintaining said bores in alignment comprises said members having a plurality of aligned fiat external surfaces adapted to be received jointly and aligned by a wrench. 

1. A tool for removing and installing threaded studs without thread impairment, comprising: a first member having a first threaded bore and a first cam means, a second member having a second threaded bore and a second cam means, said second cam means accommodating said first cam means to align said threaded bores when said members are disposed at a selected relative arcuate position for threading both members along a threaded stud and also for causing coaction of said members to tightly grip said stud when said members are moved to a different relative arcuate position.
 2. The tool as defined in claim 1 wherein said cam means are formed in eccentric relation to the axes of said threaded bores.
 3. The tool as defined in claim 2 wherein one of said camming surfaces is received in rotatable relation within the other of said camming surfaces.
 4. The tool as defined in claim 3 wherein said cam means have concentric camming surfaces disposed parallel with the axes of said bores.
 5. The tool as defined in claim 4 wherein the axes of said threaded bores are caused to be disaligned when said members are moved into said different relative arcuate position.
 6. A tool for removing and installing screw threaded members without thread impairment, comprising: a first member having a first threaded bore and an external cam means, a second member having a second threaded bore and an internal cam means, said internal cam means accommodating said external cam means to align said threaded bores when said members are disposed at a selected relative arcuate position for threading both members along a threaded member and also for causing coaction of said members to tightly grip said threaded member when said members are moved to a different relative arcuate position.
 7. A tool for removing and installing screw threaded studs without thread impairment, comprising: a first member having a first threaded bore and a first cam means, a second member having a second threaded bore and a second cam means, said second cam means cooperating with said first cam means to relatively dispose said threaded bores when said members are disposed at a selected relative arcuate position to thread both members jointly along a threaded stud and also to redispose said threaded bores to cause coaction of said members to tightly grip said threaded stud when said members are moved to a different relative arcuate position.
 8. A threaded stud actuator, comprising: a first member having a first threaded bore and an external cam disposed in eccentric relation around said first bore, a second member having a seconded threaded bore and an internal cam disposed in eccentric relation around said second bore and receiving said external cam for permitting axial alignment of said bores when said members are disposed in a selected position and causing disalignment of said bores when one of said members is rotated away from said selected position.
 9. The actuator as defined in claim 8 wherein said cams have concentric camming surfaces disposed parallel to the axes of said bores.
 10. The actuator of claim 8 wherein said members have means for maintaining said bores in alignment to jointly thread said members along a threaded stud.
 11. The actuatOr of claim 10 wherein said means for maintaining said bores in alignment comprise said members having aligned slots adapted to be received jointly and aligned in splined positioning means.
 12. The actuator of claim 10 wherein said means for maintaining said bores in alignment comprises said members having a plurality of aligned flat external surfaces adapted to be received jointly and aligned by a wrench. 